Things Japanese covers a period of half a century with a total of seven editions (including a revised edition of the 5th) in seven volumes. It is considered to be a guiding work for westerners on the subject of Japan and things and topics particular to Japan. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850-1935) is considered to be a leading Japanologist in the same league as William George Aston, Sir Ernest Mason Satow, who were famous and leading Japanologists of the Meiji era and the well-known author Lafcadio Hearn. Among the many topics covered, are comparisons of Western and Japanese culture, Japan's climate, art, treaties with foreign countries, the Emperor system, architecture, music and philosophy to name only a few.
The seven volumes comprise a total of 3,702 pages. The contents of each edition vary from one to the other. The reason for this is because from the second edition onwards, each edition as it was published, contained both new topics of interest, continued topics from the previous edition while several other topics had been deleted. In other words, the contents reflect the many and varied changes which occurred within Japan both to the country and to its society. It is also interesting to note that the final, or sixth edition, was censored and this edition does not contain any topic on the Emperor system.